


One Flake At a Time

by panther



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-06
Updated: 2014-12-06
Packaged: 2018-02-28 10:17:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2728649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panther/pseuds/panther
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pain is love. Snow is a warning. Then Teddy comes and Harry rethinks things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Flake At a Time

After several years Harry slowly starts to associate pain with love. When he is in pain or the Hospital Wing or dying after some stupid attempt to save the world people tell him that they love him. Before he went to Hogwarts Harry had no memory of those words being directed at him. His aunt and his uncle told him that he was not deserving of their love yes but that was the closest that they ever got. When he is hurt and ill as a wizard people tell him that he matters and that he is worth something and not all of them just want him to save the world. He clings to it, because he has spent his whole life dreaming of when he will matter. Winter was always a sign of bad things to come to Harry. Every year it seems to get far worse. Yet his woes at Christmas he does not result in love. They result in him being alone and thinking, or feeling guilty. Ron stays with him but more often than not he is making up excuses. He gives up his family for Harry and that is no small thing yet there is nothing Harry can give in return, not when he doesn't see money the way that Ron does. Harry does not know how to give back in any other way and he just wishes Ron understood.

After the war Harry is part of the Weasleys, but in an odd way. They all love him but Ginny feels desperate and Ron...well Harry cannot forget that he left. He loves Ron. He thinks of him as a brother, but not all brothers get along. Everything is awkward. Harry sets up home at number 12 because it distracts him. He works by day and decorates by night. He doesn't think about the Burrow and how Molly wants him there and Ron feels awkward. Ron needs to feel independent and Harry respects that. They go to work together and go and discover booze together and wake up early on Saturdays to meet Hermione and Ginny at Hogsmeade together but there is always something else. 

For Ron that thing is money. For Harry that thing is Teddy. Neither can understand the other. Harry has too much money and Ron has so much family. Ron works every hour that he can in order to give extra to his mother. Harry works as little as he can to be there for Teddy and work on the room he has prepared in number 12. Molly cries and then agrees to help him. She talks of all the things she could have done after the war and what he went through and then how he only thinks of his Godson. For Harry it fills him with warmth. Sirius would do the same. He did the same, escaping Azkaban for Harry when it came down to it. Some say it was just to kill Peter but Harry truly believes it is because he thought Harry was in danger. Wrong or right he has to cling with it. 

Ginny sends him letters with colour suggestions and spells that will put creatures on the wall. Harry doesn't trust himself and uses wallpaper instead but it appears the same and she loves it, just like Hermione. Ron shrugs but it isn't the same for him. 

It takes months before Andromeda agrees that Harry can have Teddy overnight. Whether that is grief or trust Harry doesn't know but either way he takes Teddy with a smile and makes the silly faces all children need. The first night is torture. Harry does not know how to deal with a child. Teddy screams because it is a new house and then after they get sleep he screams because the toys and playroom are different. Ginny writes and says stick with it and Harry clings on. It takes months. By the time Ginny graduates Teddy can tolerate him but when he meets Ginny he turns his face away from her. It takes the whole Summer for Harry's weekend visits until Ginny is ok in Teddy's eyes. Harry works as an Auror and Teddy is with Andromeda of course but it takes Harry by surprise when the winter comes and Andromeda is struggling and Ginny takes Teddy. She has practice, serious at that, but she takes Teddy to Christmas markets and dresses him up in their clothes. 

When the snow first comes it comes to London and Harry when Ginny is staying in Harry's bed and Molly doesn't know. The room Ginny should be in lets in a breeze and the room next door has an excited Teddy. Teddy sees the snow from his cot and clambers over the railings and falls to the floor to run to Harry. After getting over his fright Harry takes him into the garden and they run around together. Teddy attempts to throw snow and Harry falls to the ground when he needs to. All he knows comes from what others say and TV shows he has forced into the Old Black Home. Teddy loves all of it and giggles in the piles of snow so Harry cannot think he has done anything wrong. Sometimes he thinks that muggle magic is stronger. They have no proof. It is all about belief. Aside from that they have their machines and their cars and planes and everything else. 

Harry makes sure that Andromeda raises Teddy on the line, seeing everything. Teddy is just as awed by a rocket launching than seeing someone turn a table into a giraffe. With every snowfall Harry is reminded of what he has done and how far he has come. Without him Teddy could have been just another half-blood with people looking at him one way and then another. With him Teddy questions everything. He listens to muggle CDs and harasses Harry to take him to the cinema with James too if he is old enough. They adopt a dog from a muggle shelter and it responds to nothing but 'Puppy'. It only occurs to Harry later than it will be his responsibility even if it is Teddy's dog. Teddy has lost too much though. Harry won't let him use his dog, even if it farts too much and steals Harry's chair.

Snow falls again and Andromeda doesn't come to hand Teddy over. She trusts Harry and that is a warm feeling. Puppy and Teddy run around the garden and Teddy laughs and screams and Puppy barks and gets dirty. It is what Sirius would want for the house. It is what Harry wants to think of when it comes to snow.


End file.
